1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communications, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for allocating a radio resource for a machine type communication (MTC) device in a wireless communication system.
2. Related Art
Recently, there are various scenarios which employ machine-type communication (MTC). The MTC is one type of data communication including one or more entities not requiring human interactions. That is, the MTC refers to the concept of communication based on a network such as the existing GSM/EDGE radio access network (GERAN), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long-term evolution (LTE), or the like used by a machine device instead of a mobile station (MS) used by a user. The machine device used in the MTC can be called an MTC device. There are various MTC devices such as a vending machine, a machine of measuring a water level at a dam, etc. That is, the MTC is widely applicable in various fields. The MTC device has a feature different from that of a typical MS. Therefore, a service optimized to the MTC may differ from a service optimized to human type communication (HTC) communication. In comparison with a current mobile network communication service, the MTC can be characterized as a different market scenario, data communication, less costs and efforts, a potentially great number of MSs for communication, wide service areas, low traffic per MS, etc. When the MTC device is employed, there is a high possibility that a great number of MTC devices having the same function and the same traffic feature are concurrently employed by one user or service provider. In addition, there is a high possibility that the MTC device periodically generates and transmits a relatively small amount of data. There is also high possibility that the MTC device operates as a fixed device which does not move once it is deployed.
Meanwhile, at present, a cell-based wireless communication system has been designed for the purpose of effectively supporting an HTC device. For example, a physical (PHY) and media access control (MAC) layer of a 3GPP LTE/LTE-advanced (A) or institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.16-based radio communication system is designed to transmit and receive data randomly generated between HTC devices having mobility. Therefore, the conventional wireless communication system may be very ineffective in terms of supporting a great number of MTC devices.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of effectively allocating a radio resource to an MTC device while maintaining compatibility with the conventional wireless communication system to the maximum extent possible.